Final Fantasy VIII
Overview
Final Fantasy VIII is the eighth numbered game in the series that was developed and published by Squaresoft (now Square-Enix). It was initially released on the Playstation, before being later ported to the PC. Final Fantasy VIII continues with a number of elements found in previous games in the series; as illustrated by its use of a 3D engine, combined with high quality cutscenes and deep story. The plot focuses on Squall Leonhart, a cadet of Balamb Garden mercenaries called SeeD. SeeD's involvement with a small resistance group fighting against the oppressive Galbadian government blooms into an international crisis in which the young group must protect the world from the actions of an evil sorceress. Along the way, the characters unravel their past, and must learn the actions of emotion, compassion and sacrifice.
The reception of Final Fantasy VIII was largely positive, both critically and commercially. It became the top selling video game in the United States two days after its release, and held that position for more than three weeks. In the Japanese market, 2.5 million copies were sold in the first four days. By the end of 1999, more than 6 million copies had been sold. Despite such a favorable reaction, certain developments such as the new gameplay system were controversial, which had the effect of polarizing the opinions of both experts and laymen alike. Nevertheless, Final Fantasy VIII has been generally regarded as a strong iteration of the Final Fantasy series, matching the high standard that had been set by previous titles.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy VIII is similar to Final Fantasy VII, in the fact that all of the action takes place on either a world map, a pre-rendered map, or the battle screen. The world map is a zoomed out version, and is disproportionate to the size of the sole character model, Squall. Characters can traverse the world map a number of ways such as the classic Chocobo or airship. The pre-rendered map is proportionate to characters, and features all party members on screen. The backgrounds are more detailed and are directly related to the battle pre-rendered background. Battles take place in a turn-based fashion, similar to other games in the series.
Junction System
This is perhaps one of the most significant, yet also most controversial, additions to the gameplay of Final Fantasy VIII. In this game, magic works in an entirely different way. For starters, there is no MP bar; magic is stored and used up in a similar way to items. However, the important point to note is that magic can now be junctioned to your characters' statistics (such as Strength, Luck, and Vitality) to strengthen and improve them. Obviously, more powerful magic has the effect of raising statistics a more significant amount.
Besides being able to junction magic to the average stats. A big part of the gameplay comes from junctioning magic to the ST-A/D or El-A/D stats. The ability to junction to these is unlocked by GF abilities which open up the ability to junction. You do not junction attacking magic to these stats, but status magic. Equipping sleep magic to the ST-Atk junction gives that character a % chance of casting Sleep on an enemy with their regular melee attack.
Junctioning magic to the EL-A/D stats lets the character equip status magic to the ability and depending on how much of that magic is junctioned, said character has a % chance of avoiding that status. Or in the case of EL-D with elemental magic, your character has a % resistance to elemental magic. The %'s for each stat are increased the more magic the character has junctioned. So 50 blizzards will give less of a % resistance to ice than 100 blizzards will. 100 blizzards will give 100% resistance to ice. If those blizzards are refined into Blizzaras (or simply draw them from enemies) 50 blizzaras does the same thing as 100 blizzards. While anything above 50 blizzaras goes over 100% and the character begins to absorb a certain percent of that magic. The same effect is multiplied with the use of level 3 magics (blizzagas, thundaras, firagas, etc.)
Such a Junction system not only allows you to optimise your character's abilities, it also opens up new tactical elements of gameplay. An example of this is how magic such as Poison or Confusion can be junctioned onto the attacks of certain characters, so that in battle their attacks have a chance of dealing further damage if the enemy suffers the effects of the spell.
The use of junctioning is very important for Final Fantasy VIII because character growth from levels is greatly decreased compared to the previous games in the franchise. This is because the player is supposed to use junctioning of magic to upgrade their characters to god-like status.
Junctioning makes leveling up an unnecessary feature in Final Fantasy VIII. Due to the fact that all enemies scale to the player's level and bosses don't give the player any experience points. This makes low-level runs of Final Fantasy VIII not only easier to accomplish, but actually an easier way to play the game than a normal playthrough. This is because if the enemies don't hit certain levels, they don't get any of their high level magic. So in a good low-level run the character will at most face level one attacking magics (fire, thunder, blizzard).
Draw System
Another significant addition is one that also revolves around the use of magic. The draw system is a method of obtaining magic quite apart from the methods seen in Final Fantasy games up to this point. Being such a major depart from the series, it may take time for old hands to get adjusted to, however the logic behind it is quite simple. Magic, instead of being learnt by characters as they level up, is obtained through the draw system. Magic can be drawn from enemies, but also from specific draw points dotted all over the world.
You can hold up to 100 items of any type of magic at one time. The more items of a particular type of magic you have, the more significant effect it will have when junctioned. When in battle, drawing magic uses up a character's turn, and is not always successful. Some magic can only be obtained from monsters in battle, so it is often necessary to attempt drawing magic whenever you encounter a new foe, to ensure that you do not let rare forms of magic slip through your fingers.
There are also invisible draw points throughout the world. While invisible, if you walk over them you will hear the regular noise that a draw point makes. If you acquire Siren's Move-Find ability you can see all invisible draw points throughout your journey, even when she isn't junctioned to a character.
Limit Breaks
Limit breaks also make a return to this iteration of the Final Fantasy series. Instead of Final Fantasy VII`s trigger to limit breaks of a Limit meter filling through damage taken, the limit breaks in Final Fantasy VIII are triggered randomly, and are more likely when the character has critical life or is affected by status ailments. The buff spell ``Aura`` can be used to increase the frequency of the limit break being triggered, and allows for limit breaks to appear at any health level. The style of limit breaks varies from character to character, being a random slot machine style casting, to a fighting game combo system, or Squall`s timing trigger Renzokuken.
Each character has their own unique Limit Break (even temporary party members).
Squall's limit break, Renzokuken, is simply a barrage of attacks with his gunblade. The player can press the "trigger" (R1 on playstation, or E on PC) when prompted to deal more damage. Squall's limit break ends with a special attack, these attacks change depending on which of Squall's weapons are equipped currently.
Selphie's limit break, Slots, has the potential to be the most powerful in the game. When Selphie reaches low health her Limit break gives her a chance of a random type of magic. The magic is usually high level forms (thundaga, firaga, blizzaga) no matter how far in the game you are. She also has the option to "Do-Over" which essentially re-rolls the magic that she got for an opportunity for another one. The player can do this as much as she wants, but the enemies will not wait for you. You can roll the Full Cure magic, which is only usable in this manner, which fully heals the entire party. Or more importantly, the "The End" magic, which simply kills all enemies on screen (but you don't get to see it), including bosses. This spell alone, no matter how rare, gives Selphie the best limit break potential in the game.
Zell's limit break, Duel, works similarly to Sabin's from Final Fantasy VI (III). Except Zell doesn't only get one use, he has a time limit to do 1 of multiple inputs. In between inputs the timer stops, so knowing the combinations ahead of time can lead to a very lengthy and devastating attack. Zell learns more moves for his limit break by finding Combat King magazines all around the world. Each magazine gives a new move to Zell's limit break. As Zell gets new moves he goes on to learn finishing moves. This is a much more powerful attack which can be used at any time, but will end the limit break as soon as it is used.
Quistis' limit break, Blue Magic, simply works like the Blue Mage's blue magic works in previous Final Fantasy entries. Quistis learns the abilities of enemies by finding items dropped by said enemies. With a fairly limited selection compared to other Blue Mages, Quistis' arsenal includes only very unique attacks. Most of the items can be created from modding cards.
Irvine's limit break, Shot, uses the ammo bought at shops to hit enemies on screen with constant fire. The player moves a reticle around on screen and presses the trigger whenever the reticle is over an enemy. Irvine's limit break lasts as long as there is ammo in his gun. The player can opt to end the limit break early for any reason they want to. Irvine has multiple types of ammo which all make his limit break play differently.
Rinoa's limit break, Angelo, makes use of her dog Angelo. He unlocks the potential to learn new tricks as the player finds Pet Pals magazines around the world. Once he unlocks the potential, the trick must be selected in Rinoa's limit break screen. As the player walks around the environment, the tricks experience meter start to fill up. Once the meter fills up completely Angelo officially learns that trick.
Triple Triad
Triple Triad is a card minigame in Final Fantasy VIII. Collecting cards is more than merely a fun break from the core narrative elements of the game, as powerful magic and items can be refined from some of the rarer cards, making it a worthwhile investment of time and resources. Triple Triad is played on a three by three grid, where cards of various characters and monsters from the game are laid. Each card has a number corresponding to each side of the card, ranging from one to nine, and A which is considered ten. The objective of the game is to lay cards as to beat the existing card on the grid with a higher number. Adjacent sides of the card are compared, and the card with the higher number will win. The ownership of the losing card will be lost on the grid and transferred to the winner. The initial turn is determined by a coin flip. The winner of the game is determined by the person with the highest number of cards owned on the grid. The prize for the winner is taking one or more cards from the loser. In addition to the standard rules, there can be additional rules depending on the region.
Rare Cards: Final Fantasy 8 has 10 ranks of cards, each card is based off of a certain monster, GF, or main character of the game. Starting from Level 8 is where you find the first rare cards.
Level 8 : (-)'s left behind for formatting reasons.
Angelo: Challenge Watts on the Timber Owls train after kidnapping the fake president.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 6, 7, 3
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Chicobo: Finish all Chocobo forest puzzles.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 4, 8, 4
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Chubby Chocobo: Challenge student outside of Balamb Garden library.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 4, 4, 8, 9
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Gilgamesh: Challenge Card Club King.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 3, 7, 9, 6
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Ifrit: Defeat Ifrit in the Fire Cavern at the beginning of the game. Mandatory in a story playthrough.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 6, 2, 8
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Minimog: Challenge the kid running around Balamb Garden.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 3, 9, 2
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Minotaur: Acquired when you beat him and his brother in the Tomb of the Unknown King.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 5, 2, 9
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Quezacotl: Challenge the major in Fisherman's Horizon.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 2, 9, 9, 4
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Sacred: Acquired when you beat him and his brother in the Tomb of the Unknown King.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 5, 1, 9, 9
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Shiva: Find the "Girl Next Door" magazine in the Timber Maniacs office, give it to Zone for the Shiva card.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 6, 7, 4, 9
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Siren: Challenge Dollet Pub owner twice.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 8, 9, 6, 2
Level 9: Continuing GF cards.
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Alexander: Challenge Piet at the Lunar Side Base.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, A, 4, 2
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Bahamut: Simply defeat Bahamut in battle.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, 8, 2, 6
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Carbuncle: Challenge Heart from the CC in Balamb Garden CC quest.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 8, 4, A, 4
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Cerberus: Acquired the same way that you acquire the GF. Simply challenge him to battle at Galbadia.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 7, 4, 6, A
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Diablos: Acquired the same way that you acquire the GF. Simply challenge him to battle with the Lamp.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 5, A, 8, 3
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Doomtrain: Challenge Dollet Pub owner during the Card Queen Quest.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 3, 1, A, A
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Eden: Defeat Ultima Weapon.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 4, 4, 9, A
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Leviathan: Challenge CC's Joker in Garden.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 7, A, 1, 7
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Odin: Defeat Odin in the Centra Ruins.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 8, A, 3, 5
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Pandemona: Challenge Balamb Hotel Owner after Galbadia invades on Disc 2.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, 1, 7, 7
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Phoenix: Challenge Presidential Palace's Aide during the Card Queen Quest.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 7, 2, 7, A
Level 10: The final tier, all cards represent each playable character.
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Edea: Challenge Edea at her house after she has stopped being possessed.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, A, 3, 3
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Irvine: Challenge Fisherman's Horizon's mayor's wife during the Card Queen Quest.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 2, 6, 9, A
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Kiros: Challenge man in shopping area of Deling City.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 6, 7, 6, A
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Laguna: Challenge Ellone at Lunar Base.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 5, A, 3, 9
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Quistis: Challenge Trepie in Balamb Garden classroom, second floor.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 9, 6, A, 2
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Rinoa: Challenge her father and lose Ifrit to him. Challenge him again to put the Rinoa card in his hand.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 4, A, 2, A
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Seifer: Challenge Cid. You can do this as soon as you become a SeeD and have access to Cid's office.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 6, 9, A, 4
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Selphie: Challenge Selphies old classmate at Trabia Garden.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, 8, 6, 4
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Squall: Challenge Laguna once you get the Ragnarok.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, 4, 6, 9
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Ward: While in Esthar on Disc 3, challenge Dr. Odine.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) A, 7, 2, 8
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Zell: Challenge Zell's mother in their home in Balamb. Can be obtained as early as the SeeD test.
Stats: (Top, Right, Bottom, Left) 8, 5, A, 6
Item Refinement
Through an ability learned via junctioned Guardian Forces, characters can refine certain items into other items or spells. Several different refinement types exist, which bear different results when refining certain items: magic; healing potions; buff items; ammunition and equippable amulets are among the few types of things produced from a refinement. Different refinement ability types are learned from different Guardian Forces. For instance: Ifrit, who is a fire-based Guardian Force, learns Fire Magic Refinement.
Characters
There are six main playable characters in Final Fantasy VIII, and numerous other important characters that we meet along the way.
- Squall Leonhart - Squall is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. Squall is training to be a SeeD at Balamb Garden, and the game primarily follows Squall as he undertakes various missions in this mercenary role. He initially starts off as a quiet and reserved person, however the influence of characters such as Rinoa encourages him to come out of his shell. We learn later on in the game that Squall (like a number of the other characters), was raised in an orphanage run by Matron (who is later revealed to be Sorceress Edea). There are strong hints in the game to suggest that Squall is the son of Laguna.
- Quistis Trepe - Quistis is an instructor in Balamb Garden and is Squall’s immediate superior. She accompanies Squall on the tutorial mission (defeating Ifrit in the Fire Cave), and provides the player with guidance on both the Junction System and the use of summonable monsters, known as Guardian Forces. It is hinted that Quistis has romantic feelings for Squall when she shares this with him early in the game. Quistis is the only character in the game, and first in the franchise, that is able to break the 9,999 damage limit. This is possible with her final limit break, Shockwave Pulsar.
- Zell Dincht - The SeeD mission to Dollet is where we encounter Zell for the first time, as he is placed in the same team as Squall and Seifer. Zell is egregious and prone to extreme outbursts of emotion, in complete contrast to Squall. Zell's limit break, Duel, is one of the strongest limit breaks in the Final Fantasy series, as it allows the player to hit the enemy a great number of times if utilised correctly. The limit break encompasses Zell performing different fighting moves, and more moves can be unlocked through the finding of issues of the Combat King magazine.
- Selphie Tilmitt - Selphie is an exchange student from Trabia Garden who is also training to become a SeeD. Selphie is a sweet and bubbly character, and we are first properly introduced to her on the Dollet mission at the Communication Tower. Here she joins up with Squall and Zell shortly after Seifer leaves the party, and also accompanies them on later missions.
- Rinoa Heartilly - Rinoa is first introduced during the Graduation Ball cutscene when she forces Squall to dance. As the leader of the resistance group, Forest Owls, she was in Balamb Garden to seek SeeD's assistance in liberating Timber from Galbadian control. Rinoa has a strong sense of justice and is willing to stand up for what she believes in. She is averse to being controlled and often acts on impulse, as seen during Sorceress Edea's assassination plot where she attempts to take on Edea by herself. Rinoa was not brought up in Matron’s orphanage, but has instead lived a life of privilege. It is this that has perhaps contributed to her rebellious streak.
- Irvine Kinneas - Irvine is a skilled sharpshooter, and it is because of this that he is assigned the role of hitman during the assassination mission. Despite his cool exterior and Casanova-like persona, Irvine is an insecure individual. At the last moment he is almost unable to take the shot and Squall has to calm him down to prevent jeopardising the mission. As Irvine has only made use of Guardian Forces for a short while, he does not suffer the same side effects as the others. It is because of this that he is able to remember that they share a common bond; having all grown up together as children in Edea’s orphanage.
- Seifer Almasy - Balamb Garden's only other gunblade specialist besides Squall; Seifer is an extraordinarily arrogant and antagonistic figure throughout the entirety of the story. During a presidential broadcast Seifer attempts to kidnap president Vinzer Deling of Galbadia, however Sorceress Edea ‘saves’ the president and manipulates Seifer into becoming her knight. After this point he becomes a main enemy to the SeeD mercenaries, preventing Squall and company from completing their goal of assassinating the Sorceress.
- Laguna Loire - The energetic leader of a small squad of Galbadian soldiers, Laguna is also the main character of FFVIII's dream sequences. Through these dream sequences we are able to follow Laguna through multiple points of his life, from his time in the Galbadian army to his presidency of Esthar.
- Kiros Seagul - Kiros served under Laguna during his time in the Galbadian army. After he leaves the military he continues to help Laguna as an ally and friend. Kiros is also present during the dream sequences.
- Ward Zaback - Ward is another member of Laguna’s unit in the Galbadian army, and is also present in the dream sequences. He serves with Kiros and Laguna until they are separated during a mission on the continent of Esthar. He then goes on to serve as a janitor at the D-District Prison.
- Sorceress Edea - Edea allies herself to the Galbadian President Vincent Deling, and helps him with his plan of increasing his nation’s power. She publicly kills the President and takes his place as the ruler of Galbadia. It is later revealed that these actions are the result of Edea being possessed by the evil Sorceress Ultmecia, and that she actually has a kind and caring temperament. She ran the orphanage at which a number of the other characters were raised as children.
Guardian Forces
Final Fantasy VIII has a wide array of Guardian Forces (GFs), that can be assigned to any of the playable characters. GFs are significant for a number of reasons. Much emphasis is placed upon their skill in battle, the use of GFs can help to overcome difficult bosses, and they are integral to progression through the game. This is another example of how FFVIII breaks away from the traditional approrach taken by the series. Summonable creatures ordinarily take a secondary role in battles, but FFVIII places them directly at the forefront of the action. As your GF gets stronger, it will learn new abilities, such as allowing your character to assign magic to a new attribute, for example. Some GFs are unlocked by defeating them in battle, others are drawn from opponents. Collecting all of the GFs is a popular side-quest for many players, and it is by no means an easy task.
Guardian Forces are key to building your characters and are tied directly to the Junctioning system. Without a GF junctioned to him or her, a character cannot perform any actions in battle except for Fight. Junctioning the Guardian Force allows characters to select and customize their battle commands, including using Items, casting Magic, et cetera. Moreover, as a Guardian stays junctioned to a character and participates in battle, the affinity between a Guardian Force and that character grows. One of the more obvious benefits to a higher affinity is that the Guardian Force will unleash its attack quicker when summoned as a result.
All GFs except for GFs that deal a fixed amount of damage (Diablos, Jumbo Cactuar) or GFs that cast support magic (Carbuncle, Cerberus, Siren, etc.) have an unlockable ability called boost. Every GF that has the potential to earn this ability can do so when you first get it. Boost is achieved (on the PC version) buy holding down "F" during the GFs attacking animation. At the bottom right you will see the letter "A" with a number starting at 70 and a hand pointing at it. While the GF is attacking you have a limited amount of time to jam on the "A" key to make the number increase. At random intervals a red "X" will appear over the hand, warning you to stop pressing A for a little bit. You have a few chances for accidentally doing it, but pressing "A" more than 3 times when the red "X" is on screen will reset your boost number back to 70. The higher the number for boost, the higher the damage of the regular GF attack.
Quezacotl
Quezacotl and Shiva are the first two GFs you receive in game. When you first get control of Squall, Quistis will tell you to check out your study panel. Doing so will net you the first two GFs. If you skip this Quistis will just give the two GFs to you before you go on the first test. Quezacotl is a thunder elemental and will be your primary source of thunder damage early in the game. Quezacotl's two most useful abilities are Card Mod and Card. Card mod allows you to refine items from pre-owned cards. Card will change the targeted enemy into a card. These are very useful early on.
Shiva
Shiva is acquired at the same time as Quezacotl. She is an Ice elemental and, much like Quezacotl, will be your primary source of ice attacks. Shiva's most useful abilities are Vitality & Spirit . These abilities are passive and are important to have early on. These simply give the equipped character a vitality or spirit boost for each level. Her low Hp makes her less viable later in the game, but her ice skills are still unmatched.
Ifrit
Ifrit is the first GF that you actually earn in FFVIII. You meet him early on at the end of the Fire Cavern quest with Quistis. To easily dispatch him you should use Shiva with one character and have the other heal or cast blizzard. Ifrit is a Fire elemental GF and one of the most powerful. Ifrit's most useful abilities are HP-J & STR Bonus. Ifrit's HP-J skill allows curative magic to be junctioned to the character's HP, giving large HP boosts early on. While STR Bonus is another good early skill for low levels.
Siren
Siren will be your first non elemental and non attacking GF. Siren must be drawn from Elvoret at the top of Dollet Comm.Tower. Siren does not attack but casts silence on all her enemies. This makes her most useful against magic casters. Siren's most useful abilities are Treatment & Move-Find. Treatment is a skill that heals any abnormal status effects. Move-Find helps you see invisible save & draw points.
Brothers
The Brothers GF is the first side quest GF you will acquire in the game. To reach the mansion you need to go find a lost soldiers code tag in the Tomb of the Unknown King. The code is right at the entrance, but proper management through the underground maze will lead you to fight both brothers. The Brothers are an Earth elemental, meaning they cannot attack flying enemies. To aid yourself against them in the boss battle, cast float on all your characters. The Brothers' most useful abilities are HP & HP Bonus. The earlier you get the GF the better it will be for the equipped character. The Brothers play rock paper scissors to decide who will be launched in the air for their attack.
Diablos
Diablos can be obtained when you are leaving for Timber. As you leave Balamb, Cid will hand you the Magical Lamp item. The item can be used at any time on the battlefield, doing so will launch you into this challenging boss battle. It is best to fight Diablos as soon as possible, when your characters are weak. Diablos has no element but he attacks, not in set damage, but by deducting a percentage of the enemy's HP. At level 100 Diablos will attack 100% of the enemies HP. Diablos' most useful abilities are Mug & Abilityx3. Mug is an action that replaces the characters attack option. It works like steal does for thieves, but it steals during a regular attack. This ability should always be on someone. Abilityx3 does exactly that, gives you a third ability option.
Carbuncle
Carbuncle is a useful GF who has no element and does not attack. You need to draw Carbuncle from the Iguions at the end of Disc one right before the fight with Edea. Carbuncle will be of immediate use, because he will save you during the Edea battle that occurs soon after you procure him. Carbuncle does not attack,like Siren, but instead of debuffing his enemies he buffs all of the party with reflect. Reflect prevents any magic from hitting your party, and during the first Edea battle, she only uses magic. The magic is bounced back at the enemy. Carbuncle's most useful abilities are ST-ATK-J & Abilityx3.ST-Atk-J makes magic able to be junctioned to a characters attack. Abilityx3 gives you a third ability slot.
Leviathan
Leviathan will be your first GF on Disc Two. He needs to be drawn from NORG during the fight at Balamb Garden. Leviathan is a water elemental and his attack is the strongest water elemental damage you can deal. Leviathan rises as a dragon to the top of a sloped mountain, dissolves into water, and rushes his enemies in a large tsunami. Leviathan's most useful abilities are Recover & Spr Bonus. Recover is an ability that fully restores one party member's HP. Spr Bonus gives the character an additional bonus after every level up.
Pandemona
Pandemona needs to be drawn from Fujin during the Fujin and Raijin boss battle. Pandemona is a Wind elemental and , due to the lack of strong wind magic in the game, will be key to battles against enemies with a weakness to wind. Pandemona's most useful abilities, Spd-J & Initiative, primarily focus on increasing a characters speed. Initiative starts a battle with all of your character with a full ATB bar. Spd-J will let you junction magic to speed, hasting your character in the process.
Cerberus
Cerberus will be your first optional GF battle of Disc Two. He is standing right in the center of Galbadia Garden's main hall. Cerberus does not attack, instead he casts double & triple on your party. Double and Triple allow a character to cast three or two times per turn. Cerberus' most useful abilities are ST-Atk-J & ST-Def-Jx4. He has one of the best sets of junctioning abilities in the game.
Alexander
Alexander must be drawn from the Edea boss battle at the end of Disc Two. Alexander is a Holy elemental, making him great against undead enemies. His attack starts off fairly weak. Alexander's most useful abilities are Med LV Up & Revive. Med LV Up will help you on a late game sidequest to procure an item needed to receive the Doom Train GF. Revive will immediately resurrect a downed enemy.
Doomtrain
Doomtrain is available at the white SeeD ship part of Disc Three till the end of the game. You need the items: Solomon Ring, Marlboro Tentacles, Remedy , & Steel Pipes to use the ring. The ring must be used at Tears' Point. Using the ring summons Doomtrain, who will immediately join your party. Doomtrain is a Poison elemental who casts abnormal status effects on his enemies. Doomtrain has the best set of junctioning abilities in FFVIII and has many useful junctioning abilities.
Bahamut
Bahamut can be obtained at the Deep Sea Research Center on Disc Three. You must answer his questions correctly to initiate the battle. Bahamut has no element and average damage however, the meat of his attack is the length of his animation. The length of the attack will give you enough time to fully boost Bahamut, increasing his damage drastically. Bahamut's most useful abilities are Abilityx4& Mug. Both are abilities you have earned before, but it can't hurt to have these on two characters.
Jumbo Cactuar
Jumbo Cactuar is located on Cactuar Island, east of Centra Ruins. On the small island you will see a little cactus running around randomly. When you run into it you are thrust into a battle against Jumbo Cactuar and his saucy moustache. Cactuar's 1000 Needles attack does 1,000 damage for every ten levels, making his max damage 10,000 and the second most powerful GF in the game, just barely breaking the 9,999 damage limit. Cactuar's specialties lie in his damage, making his abilities an afterthought.
Tonberry King
Tonberry King is definitely the hardest GF to obtain in the game. In Centra Ruins you must run around and defeat at least 20 of the difficult Tonberry enemies before randomly coming into a battle with the Tonberry King. Tonberry King is one of the hardest boss fights in the game and he can take upwards of two hours to complete. Tonberry is great to have at shops with his Familiar and Call Shop skills. Familiar adds rare items to all shops, while call shop brings the shop to you. His Lv. Down and Lv. Up abilities are good for making a hard enemy easy, or strengthening a weak enemy for greater loot.
Eden
Eden is the last GF you will obtain in FFVIII and he is the most powerful. Eden can be acquired from Ultima Weapon at the bottom of Deep Sea Research after you pass Bahamut. Eden's base damage is 13,000 but when fully boosted (which is possible) it can reach over 60,000 points. This means Eden has the strongest single-hitting attack in the game and thus making Final Fantasy VIII the first game in the series to break the 9,999 damage limit, along with Quistis´ final limit break and Jumbo Cactuar. The damage limit is theoretically 99,999, but since the damage values in the game are based on 16-bit integer values, the damage can never exceed 65,535.
Eden's Devour ability will let you eat certain enemies and use their abilities to increase your party's stats.
The PocketStation
Final Fantasy VIII supported the PocketStation, a minature console that was only released in Japan. When plugged into the PlayStation, the PocketStation allowed users to play a special minigame called "Chocobo World", by reading your FFVIII save file. The game involved controlling a chocobo and leading him to gain items that could then be used within the main Final Fantasy VIII game itself. The Guardian Force Boko also had three additional special attacks that could only be obtained through the Pocketstaion, or by playing the version of Chocobo World that was included in the PC version.
Music
The music for Final Fantasy VIII was written and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu, like with Final Fantasy VII, took advantage of the sound capabilities of Sony's Playstation which enabled him to create a richer sound than in previous titles. The game and its soundtrack are both known for being somewhat anomalous in the long running series. For the soundtrack this is evidenced by Uematsu's clear break with the work he has done on previous games. Uematsu started doing more full orchestral work and the soundtrack has more electronic influences than ever before. Furthermore, the overall narrative of the music can be described as more cinematic than audiences came to expect from Uematsu.
The most notable tracks on the soundtrack are the opening theme, called "Liberi Fatali"--meaning something along the lines of "Fated Children"--and "Eyes On Me". Liberi Fatali is a full orchestral piece arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi and accompanies the game's opening cinematic. Its main melody is used as a leitmotiffor several pieces used for key scenes in the game's story. The song is also notable for its use of a full choir. The other song, Eyes on Me, is notable because it is a ballad with full vocals and is used in-game. The use of a pop song with vocals was a first for the Final Fantasy franchise and has set a trend which continued on up until the most recent Final Fantasy game. Eyes On Me was composed by Uematsu and sung by the famous Chinese singer Faye Wong. The song's lyrics were written by Kako Someya. The melody of this song is the leitmotif for various other pieces which signify romantic moments in the game's story--for example, Julia's theme in certain flashbacks and related moments. It was released on CD in Japan which subsequently sold over 400,000 units. Eyes on Me has been the best-selling piece of video game music in Japan until the release of "Hikari" by singer Utada Hikaru for the first of the Kingdom Hearts games. The song is also noteworthy because it is the first piece of video game music to win an award at the Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards.
Final Fantasy VIII - Original Soundtrack
Disc One
01 - Liberi Fatali (3:06)
02 - Balamb GARDEN (3:29)
03 - Blue Fields (2:54)
04 - Don't be Afraid (2:51)
05 - The Winner (1:07)
06 - Find Your Way (3:48)
07 - SeeD (4:17)
08 - The Landing (4:36)
09 - Starting Up (1:18)
10 - Force Your Way (3:53)
11 - The Loser (1:27)
12 - Never Look Back (3:23)
13 - Dead End (1:11)
14 - Breezy (2:44)
15 - Shuffle or Boogie (2:04)
16 - Waltz for the Moon (3:01)
17 - Tell Me (3:25)
18 - Fear (2:25)
19 - The Man with the Machine Gun (2:50)
20 - Julia (1:22)
21 - Roses and Wine (2:19)
22 - Junction (1:38)
23 - Timber Owls (2:51)
Total Time: 60'53"
Disc Two
01 - My Mind (3:12)
02 - The Mission (3:37)
03 - Martial Law (3:48)
04 - Cactus Jack (Galbadian Anthem) (1:29)
05 - Only a Plank Between One and Perdition (2:24)
06 - SUCCESSION OF WITCHES (3:19)
07 - Galbadia GARDEN (3:37)
08 - Unrest (2:37)
09 - Under Her Control (3:31)
10 - The Stage is Set (3:40)
11 - A Sacrifice (3:27)
12 - FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC (4:33)
13 - Intruders (2:32)
14 - Premonition (4:37)
15 - Wounded (0:52)
16 - Fragments of Memories (3:14)
17 - Jailed (3:50)
18 - Rivals (3:31)
19 - Ami (4:37)
Total Time: 62'19"
Disc Three
01 - The Spy (3:47)
02 - Retaliation (0:47)
03 - Movin' (5:18)
04 - Blue Sky (0:45)
05 - Drifting (2:57)
06 - Heresy (4:11)
07 - Fisherman's Horizon (3:36)
08 - ODEKA ke Chocobo (1:16)
09 - Where I Belong (3:40)
10 - The Oath (3:26)
11 - Slide Show Part1 (1:23)
12 - Slide Show Part2 (1:47)
13 - Love Grows (4:29)
14 - The Salt Flats (3:37)
15 - Trust Me (3:13)
16 - Silence and Motion (5:48)
17 - Dance with the Balamb-fish (3:40)
18 - Tears of the Moon (1:13)
19 - Residents (3:07)
20 - Eyes On Me (5:38)
Total Time: 63'25"
Disc Four
01 - Mods de Chocobo (featuring N's Telecaster) (2:25)
02 - Ride On (3:03)
03 - Truth (3:41)
04 - Lunatic Pandora (3:28)
05 - Compression of Time (4:34)
06 - The Castle (5:19)
07 - The Legendary Beast (5:50)
08 - Maybe I'm a Lion (5:35)
09 - The Extreme (6:45)
10 - The Successor (3:35)
11 - Ending Theme (13:18)
12 - Overture (3:36)
Total Time: 61'10"
